MALE PEREGRINES FIGHT FOR NESTING RIGHTS AT PITT'S CATHEDRAL OF LEARNING

On Sunday, March 18, beginning shortly after 9 a.m., two male peregrines locked talons and engaged in a battle to claim ownership of the peregrine nest atop Pitt's Cathedral of Learning; a nest that has successfully hatched peregrines since 2002.

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According to Kate St. John, a WPC volunteer and a primary reason the nest exists at Pitt:

"In all of the pictures, the fighting birds have their talons locked.The camera is blurry (alas! that's how it is this year) but you can see in the first picture that they are tussling. Then they rear back and "yell" at each other. I was able to watch the live video while I saved snapshots so I could see their beaks moving as they "yelled." In the middle of the sequence I took fewer snapshots because they were merely locked and rearing back for quite a few minutes. By the end of the fight sequence a third peregrine- Dorothy - shows up and stands quite close to them. This seems to give new strength to the bird on the right who lunges at the other one.They tussle and fall into the gully below the nest, then presumably fly away in a long distance chase. Dorothy is the last, lone bird at the nest looking toward the direction where they fell. She looks around for a few seconds, then leaves as well.

This spring we will have to keep a special lookout for the male's bands to confirm it is Erie unless Facilities Management finds his dead body on the building, which I doubt they will. My theory is that an intruder would haved stay at the Cathedral of Learning until he won, and the only way to win is to kill the owner. My further theory is that when an intruder loses and does not die, he flies away with the site-owner in hot pursuit. Since all three birds were missing for a while, I suspect that Erie was in hot pursuit and Dorothy was following to see how it was going.

Peregrine territory fights are common at this time of year. Who knows how many fights occur that we never know about. I was lucky to catch it on the webcam. I must admit I hope "our" bird, Erie, was the winner. In any event, whoever wins proves he's the stronger bird and more capable of defending the site the providing for the young - which is what it's all about anyway."

First egg at Pitt 3/27/06. See Live Web cam.

In 2007, WPC began partnering with the on the peregrine project.